By Gail Kansky

Summer 2020

We are living in age of a pandemic caused by COVID-19 and to help reduce the spread of the virus, we’re told to remain in our own homes. In the past, other epidemics such as West Nile Virus and SARS have resulted an uptick of CFIDS/ME illnesses. Will it happen again? Will many who have gotten sick from the virus that our country is experiencing right now eventually develop our illness? The research center at Columbia University led by Dr. W. Ian Lipkin had Dr. Anthony Komaroff answer that an uptick of CFIDS/ME illnesses would be entirely possible based on past evidence. Tony is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the editor in chief of the Harvard Health Letter.

Dr. Komaroff said, “Sometimes, people who develop ME/CFS - after what appears to be an infection - seem to have been part of a larger epidemic.” In the past, he added that many reported epidemics of CFIDS/ME around the world that have taken place in the past seventy years were studied to establish the cause but he reported that none were able to “find a cause of the initial infection”. I, personally, find that hard to believe. A more believable answer would be that no country wants to admit the causative factor. Even though the scientists from Chernobyl had the cause of radiation bringing on ME/CFIDS written about in a medical journal, every country still feigns ignorance rather than admit the truth. Decades ago, we even had our entire cohort tested for radiation and all were found positive. In fact, the higher a patient tested, the more severe was their case of ME/CFIDS was.

For that matter, as this ongoing pandemic is still among us, I’ve felt our own government also knows and hides the treatment and the cure of CFIDS/ME. That is why, I feel, important people have been given that knowledge and moved their residence far away to help keep that knowledge to themselves. Years ago, I often had long and interesting talks with one woman who worked at the NIH who was part of the team working on CFIDS/ME. She would meet with other patients for government meetings and then, unfortunately, became sick herself. She could not keep up with her own errands as we all know how much CFIDS/ME robs you of life. Yet, a few weeks later, she was back at work. When I tried to reach her, however, I never could. Indeed, the same thing was true of others who were aware of the truth. People who were in close touch with those same people who had gotten well had the same experience. Even their private telephone numbers were no longer active.

The ongoing pandemic has also slowed the research we funded to find a treatment as the researchers are no longer allowed to continue their “nonessential” work until this world-effected pandemic is over. When the world returns to normal, I will be cheering even though, as another victim of CFIDS/ME, I will remain “sequestered” at home. An actual treatment will be coming someday even though the current pandemic will prolong the timing.